Hallyday's father, Léon Smet (1908–1989), was Belgian; his mother, Huguette Clerc (1920–2007), was French. Born in Paris, Hallyday took his stage name from his aunt Desta's husband and dance partner Lee Hallyday, a pseudonym for Lee Ketcham, an expatriate Oklahoman, performer, and MC at the Café de Paris where Johnny began his singing career. Johnny was raised by Desta and Lee from a very young age, with Lee being his first manager. Johnny was always very loyal to Lee and secured him a permanent job as a producer and A&R man with his label, Philips Records until Lee's retirement and relocation back to Oklahoma.
His debut single, "Laisse les filles" was released on the Vogue label in March 1960. His first album, Hello Johnny, was released in 1960. In 1961 his cover of "Let's Twist Again" sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. It topped almost every European chart, although the track did not appear in the UK Singles Chart. He appeared on the American The Ed Sullivan Show with American singing star Connie Francis in a show that was taped at the Moulin Rouge nightclub in Paris. He also staged many appearances in the Paris Olympia under the management of the late Bruno Coquatrix. For their first concert, The Jimi Hendrix Experience opened for Johnny Hallyday in Évreux on 13 October 1966. Black-and-white footage, also from October 1966, exists of Hallyday partying with Hendrix, his manager Chas Chandler and others. There also is a widely published monochrome photograph of Hallyday walking somewhere in Paris in late May 1966 with Bob Dylan.
At the end of the 1960s, Hallyday made a string of albums with Mick Jones and Tommy Brown as musical directors, and Big Jim Sullivan, Bobby Graham and Jimmy Page as session musicians. These are Jeune Homme, Rivière... Ouvre ton Lit (a.k.a. Je suis né dans la rue) and Vie. On Je suis né dans la rue, Hallyday also hired both Peter Frampton and the Small Faces. Amongst their contributions are the songs Amen (Bang Bang), Reclamation (News Report), and Regarde Pour Moi (What You Will), which are variations of Small Faces and Humble Pie (Frampton's band) songs—tracks and they all play on the album. Often forgotten is Hallyday's non-LP single and EP track Que Je T'aime from the same sessions. By 1969 alone, his sales of records exceeded twelve million.
One of Hallyday's later concerts, 100% Johnny: Live à La Tour Eiffel in 2000, attracted an audience of 500,000 and 9.5 million television viewers (the show was broadcast live on French TV). In December 2005, Hallyday had his third number-one single in France, "Mon Plus Beau Noël" (after "Tous ensemble" and "Marie"), dedicated to his adopted daughter Jade. Shortly before announcing his retirement from touring, he released a blues-flavored album, Le Cœur d'un homme, on 12 November 2007. The album hit No. 1 in both France and French-speaking Belgium. In addition to the lead single "Always", Le Cœur d'un homme features "T'aimer si mal", a duet with bluesman Taj Mahal and "I Am the Blues", an English-language song written for Hallyday by U2's lead singer Bono. His next album, Ça ne finira jamais, released in 2008, another No. 1 on the French album chart, and its lead single, "Ça n'finira jamais", also reached No. 1. In 2008 he recorded a series of acoustic songs with French musician Drexl Jonez. Hallyday's most recent album, also a No. 1 hit in France, is Tour 66: Stade de France 2009, a live set recorded at Stade de France during his farewell tour with appearances by Drexl Jonez on the guitar.
French movie producers Michèle and Laurent Pétin introduced Johnny Hallyday to Hong Kong film director Johnnie To. Hallyday was cast as the main role of To's Vengeance after meeting with the director in early 2008. The shooting began in November 2008 and concluded in February 2009.
He was married for 15 years to popular Bulgarian-French singer Sylvie Vartan and the two were considered a "golden couple" for 20 years.
Hallyday completed 181 tours, had 18 platinum albums, and sold more than 110 million records worldwide, making him one of the world's best-selling artists of all time.
Hallyday remains largely unknown outside the Francophone world, thus earning the nickname "the biggest rock star you've never heard of" in English-speaking countries.
On December 5th, 2017 Hallyday died, at age 74, in Marnes-la-Coquette, France.
Je n'oublierai jamais
Johnny Hallyday Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
M'écarteler la chair
Me vider de mon sang
M'arracher goutte à goutte
Les gouttes de ma vie
Me crucifier en terre
Rayer de ma mémoire
Les traces du passé
Piétiné, déchiré
Et moi là, l'insoumis
Incapable et cloué
Aux mains de vos supplices
Aux mains du sacrifice
Perdu pour elle
Vous pouvez tout me dire
Que je suis déjà mort
Et que je vais pourrir
Desséché au soleil
Cadeau pour les vautours
Ouvrez-la, votre gueule
Vous crèverez un jour
Comme crèvent les lâches
Que c'était grâce à elle
Que je vivais ma vie
Et que je n'aimais qu'elle
Et qu'elle m'avait dit
Qu'elle n'aimait que moi
Qu'elle se battrait pour moi
Et qu'elle est morte
Vous pouvez tout changer
De pays de prison
De visage et de nom
De croyance et de dieu
Et même changer de peau
Un ami quelque part
Qui aura ma mémoire
Vous trouvera un jour
Jamais
The lyrics to Johnny Hallyday's song Je n'oublierai jamais translate to "You can do anything to me, tear apart my flesh, drain me of my blood, drip by drip, crucify me in the ground, erase from my memory the traces of the past. His body in your hands, trampled, torn apart and I am here, the rebel, incapable and pinned to the hands of your punishments, the hands of sacrifice, lost for her. You can tell me I am already dead and that I will rot, dried up in the sun, a gift for the vultures. Open your mouth, you will die one day like the cowards die, that it was thanks to her that I lived my life and that I loved only her and that she had told me that she loved only me, that she would fight for me and that she died. You can change everything from my country to my prison, my face and my name, my belief and my god and even change my skin. A friend somewhere who will have my memory will find you one day. I will never forget."
The lyrics describe a deep love for a woman who has passed away, and the singer's willingness to endure any amount of pain and suffering for her. The chorus reflects the idea that even if the singer loses everything and is physically destroyed, he will always remember and love her, and that in the end, his love will outlast anything.
Line by Line Meaning
Vous pouvez tout me faire
You can do anything to me
M'écarteler la chair
Tear my flesh apart
Me vider de mon sang
Drain all my blood
M'arracher goutte à goutte
Tear drop by drop from me
Les gouttes de ma vie
The drops of my life
Me crucifier en terre
Crucify me on the ground
Rayer de ma mémoire
Erase from my memory
Les traces du passé
The traces of the past
Son corps entre vos mains
Her body in your hands
Piétiné, déchiré
Trampled, torn
Et moi là, l'insoumis
And me there, the rebel
Incapable et cloué
Incapable and nailed
Aux mains de vos supplices
In the hands of your torments
Aux mains du sacrifice
In the hands of sacrifice
Perdu pour elle
Lost for her
Vous pouvez tout me dire
You can tell me anything
Que je suis déjà mort
That I am already dead
Et que je vais pourrir
And that I will rot
Desséché au soleil
Dried up in the sun
Cadeau pour les vautours
Gift for the vultures
Ouvrez-la, votre gueule
Open your mouth
Vous crèverez un jour
You will die one day
Comme crèvent les lâches
Like cowards die
Que c'était grâce à elle
That it was thanks to her
Que je vivais ma vie
That I was living my life
Et que je n'aimais qu'elle
And that I loved only her
Et qu'elle m'avait dit
And that she had told me
Qu'elle n'aimait que moi
That she loved only me
Qu'elle se battrait pour moi
That she would fight for me
Et qu'elle est morte
And that she died
Vous pouvez tout changer
You can change everything
De pays de prison
From country to prison
De visage et de nom
From face and name
De croyance et de dieu
From belief and God
Et même changer de peau
And even change skin
Un ami quelque part
A friend somewhere
Qui aura ma mémoire
Who will have my memory
Vous trouvera un jour
Will find you one day
Jamais
Never
Contributed by Nora J. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
LÉTARD Jean Bernard
Quelle interprétation magistrale !! Quelle voix exceptionnelle !! Quel artiste hors norme !! Quelle chance nous avons eu de l'avoir connu !! C'est le plus grand !! Merci JOHNNY on t'oubliera jamais tu fait parti de nos vies !! Ça ne finira jamais 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖
Jean-pierre Chassaing
Je ne peux pas l oublié, dans mon cœur à jamais qu elle voix exceptionnelle ❤❤
Marie Bourges
Johnny avait beaucoup d’imagination pour faire vivre des moments extraordinaires a ses fans c’était un homme de scène. Merci pour ce partage
Patrice Branconi
Magnifique chanson merci à tous les amis du taulier 🎤🎙🙏🙏🙏🙏🎸🎸
Lydie Murcia
Il a atteint le "sublime" avec cette interprétation. Johnny nous a fait vivre de très grandes émotions... lui seul était capable de cette performance.
Tu resteras irremplaçable, nul ne peut atteindre ton niveau. Tu étais un très grand Monsieur, tu me manqueras toujours mon Johnny.
Jean-Francois Robert
Jeff 75 cette chanson me fait penser a une femme que j'aimais avec passion elle s'appelle Dany merci mon Johnny
pascal migout
oui il étais le plus grand personne ne pourra jamais l'égaler
Sebastien Monet
Ah oui. Sublime
jean marc Espasa
Je dirais même aux de la du sublimes magnifiques chansons 😎🎸🎸🎸😇 à notre boss a jamais on toublira
Marie Bourges
Oui 👍 je suis de votre avis Johnny reste irremplaçable